Suspended Pa. Priest Appeals Teen Contact Charges

Centre Daily Times
May 4, 2012

http://www.centredaily.com/2012/05/04/3185450/suspended-pa-priest-appeals-teen.html

A suspended Catholic priest has appealed his conviction on charges of concealing the whereabouts of a child and corruption of minors stemming from his relationship with a 15-year-old northwestern Pennsylvania boy whose mother had told the priest to stop contacting the teen.

Sixty-year-old Samuel Slocum, of Cyclone, is serving two years' probation for his conviction in January.

The priest remains suspended from ministry by the Erie diocese but argues in the appeal that McKean County prosecutors didn't prove the charges against him.

The Bradford Era ( http://bit.ly/KzBcEl) says Slocum contends he didn't hide the boy's whereabouts from his mother, and says the boy wasn't "corrupted" because the priest never encouraged him to commit a crime or do anything inappropriate.

Prosecutors didn't charge Slocum with sex crimes, but say some contacts with the boy were suggestive or flirtatious.